Thursday Might 30, 2024 at 11:07 PM
Tom Dumoulin appeared dying within the eye within the 2012 Vuelta a España. The now retired bicycle owner stated this emotionally when his crash from that spherical was mentioned within the RTL discuss present. Renze. “There I skilled the worst crash of my profession,” stated Dumoulin.
For the brand new e-book ‘On Feeling’, Dumoulin went along with author Nando Boers to locations which have a particular historical past for Limburgers. “Nando urged that we journey to plenty of locations, as a result of he thought there can be extra to realize,” he says. Andorra was a kind of locations, due to the Tour stage he received there in 2016. “However in an earlier Vuelta I skilled a really nasty crash there.”
“On the best way to Andorra we got here throughout the climb, or really the descent (of the Alto de la Comella, ed.) the place I fell very exhausting. As a first-year skilled, after I was twenty, I crashed into the guardrail and reduce my abdomen open. I fell over the guardrail and climbed again up. After which it was pink, and my abdomen was hanging open…,” Dumoulin remembers. “And I nonetheless discover it a bit troublesome, I discover.”
“That made a giant impression on me, that second itself,” says the then Argos-Shimano rider with a lump in his throat. “As a result of I assumed I used to be going to die there. So yeah… I used to be scared my whole profession after that. I’ve at all times been afraid of going downhill.”
Tom Dumoulin (left) throughout the 2012 Vuelta a España – picture: Cor Vos
‘After that, throughout my profession, I at all times felt worry’
Dumoulin then remembers the second from the eighth stage of the 2012 Vuelta. “I used to be chasing one other man (Frederik Kessiakof from Astana, ed.) and he misjudged the flip. He simply saved his personal flip, however I got here behind him with extra pace and I had no probability. And all through my profession I’ve at all times been afraid of being in somebody’s wheel. If I used to be within the lead or in a time trial, I might go down like a cannon. However as quickly as I used to be on the wheel, I at all times felt worry.”
“Apparently that is some type of trauma, in any other case I would not be emotional about it proper now. There’s nonetheless a giant ‘jaap’ in my abdomen, however I used to be very fortunate then. My abdomen was open and loads of blood got here out, however it was a matter of stapling. I used to be very fortunate that nothing was hit internally. However I felt very lonely there after I sat there. I nonetheless discover it troublesome to observe falls, and I additionally hope that my baby doesn’t develop into a bicycle owner.”
The 2012 Vuelta in Spain is a black web page within the biking profession of @tom_dumoulin. He had a nasty fall and Renze turns into emotional after they look again on this second. “I assumed I used to be going to die.” #RENZE pic.twitter.com/yzE4hMZ2q1
— RTL Talkshow (@rtltalkshow) Might 30, 2024
